How Far We've Fallen

High standards seem to be a thing of the past. What once was ordinary and expected of everyone is now deemed gifted, talented, and exceptional. Even simple things like being able to write longhand are considered extraordinary, and if perchance you happen to be an immigrant that speaks fluent English without the frequent insertion of ‘know what I’m sayin’?’ in your dialogue, people are surprised and dumbfounded.

We have consistently lowered the bar to accommodate the lazy and uninspired, and although that is a choice the world is free to make it ought not to be so when it comes to those responsible for the spiritual welfare of the household of faith.

The quality of shepherd has been steadily diminishing during the first few decades. We have let things slide, we have ignored the warning signs, and now the quality of shepherd has diminished to the point that no one seems to be put off by the idea that some 400 pastors, deacons, elders, and other church leadership have enrolled themselves and pay fees to a website whose sole purpose is to provide partners for illicit extramarital affairs.

In layman’s terms, they pay a subscription to facilitate the commission of adultery with other individuals who pay a subscription to likewise commit adultery on their significant other.

The surprise in the church was almost nonexistent. Some are even breathing a sigh of relief that the names of these pastors and elders were found on a website that facilitates heterosexual intercourse rather than one providing hookups for men to reciprocally sodomize each other.

At least they were looking to commit adultery with women. The fact that we can even think of framing the argument in such a manner proves how far we’ve fallen and how little is expected of our spiritual leaders nowadays.
It used to be men whose function was to serve food to widows were expected to be of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Nowadays, as long as you can fit into a pair of skinny jeans and look hip enough wearing a pair of horn rimmed glasses, your spiritual pedigree, how much you know of the Word, or even what you believe is no longer relevant.

We make idols of men only to be overcome by hopelessness and despair once our idols turn out to be less then human, never mind a demigod.

In this entire unfolding there are no innocents. Everyone is culpable for the spiritual condition we find ourselves in. Everyone is culpable for the lukewarm, halfhearted, heretical offerings we bring before God, thinking we are doing Him a favor, and expecting to be generously rewarded via the material for our efforts.

The leaders are culpable because they stopped preaching truth, and began floating the idea that sin is no longer sin, and what you do  the rest of the week is irrelevant as long as you pay your tithe and show up on Sunday.

The sheep are culpable because they desired a wider path than that the Bible prescribes, and found themselves teachers to suit their proclivities and give them license to sin.

Those still preaching truth are likewise culpable, because they didn’t yell loud enough, or long enough, or often enough, but in their defense, even a dog can only be smacked upon the head so many times by those he considers friends before he just gives up his barking, and goes to sit in a corner somewhere.

We tried preaching the Word, and were called legalists. We tried preaching righteousness and were called zealots. We tried preaching the power of the Holy Spirit and were called mystics. We tried preaching Jesus and were called intolerant. We tried preaching the narrow path and were called exclusivists. We tried preaching the cross and were called old-fashioned, outmoded, and obsolete.

 

We were not called these things by the world; it was not the world that was persecuting us, but those who claimed to be of the household of faith, those who claimed to be of Christ, those who claimed to stand for truth. Yes, the selfsame individuals who now embrace sin with open arms, who see no problems with adultery, and whose notion of salvation is one even a toddler can poke holes in until it looks like a slice of Swiss cheese.

Who have we to blame for the world we’ve created but ourselves?

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

A Much Needed Perspective

‘I’m going to kill you! I want to kill you! My loftiest dream, the pinnacle of my existence is to bathe in your blood!’

What if you had a neighbor who repeated these lines every time he got the chance? What if you had a neighbor who on any given day went out of his way to remind you that you are nothing, that your very existence offends him, and as soon as he is able he will end your life by any means available to him? What if said neighbor took it beyond mere words every time he got a chance, breaking your windows, killing your pets, assaulting your family, and even financing others to do you harm? Would you ignore this individual? Would you just shrug your shoulders and go about your business?  Would you just roll your eyes and call him a silly rascal? Would you not take him seriously? Would you entertain the idea that this was all a farce as some insist even though the manner in which he threatens your life bears no semblance of it being a joke or a slip of the tongue?

Let’s look at this a different way, because I really want to get the absolute lunacy of what we are seeing play out before our eyes through to you.

Imagine you are witnessing the following conversation between two people:

“I’m going to kill you.”

“No you are not.”

“But I’ve been referring to you as the great Satan and calling for your destruction for decades.”

“No you haven’t.”

“But I have a knife and I’m going to stab you with it.”

“I don’t believe you, but here’s a gun in any case.”

“You just made it easier for me to kill you.”

“No I didn’t.”

“I just pulled the trigger.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You are bleeding.”

“No I’m not.”

At this point would you not be questioning the mental wherewithal of the second individual? At this point would you not be wondering, perhaps aloud, if the need for a psych evaluation were not preeminent?

There is something incongruent with logic and reason when we attempt to go out of our way to further militarize a people whose stated purpose is our destruction. The reality of the situation is so obvious, that one rightly wonders whether or not our leaders have been blinded by an invisible hand, and are setting about doing things antithetical to their own self-preservation.

We are living days the likes of which the world has never seen, and will never see again. We are living prophetic times, and are made witness to the fulfillment of Scripture almost comparable in scope to the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of the Christ.

The nagging question isn’t so much what will occur in the short term. It is what sort of persons ought we to be, knowing what we know of the end times landscape.  

Perhaps an even more relevant question is: are we the persons we ought to be, in holy conduct and godliness as Scripture commands? Because knowing a thing and doing a thing are two very different things and many a soul today possess the knowledge of what they ought to be but not the wherewithal to make the necessary changes in order to be it.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

All the King's Horses

I will begin this post by stating that I am no financial wizard. Like most of you, at the end of the month I’m looking through the couch cushions for spare change, but in my defense diapers aren’t cheap, and I think they set the price for baby formula by the gold standard.

That said, I recently read that Puerto Rico defaulted on a $58 million dollar debt. Sure, for us mere mortals that seems like a lot of money, but when you juxtapose our national debt, which is currently weighing in at an obese $18.6 trillion, $58 million seems downright paltry, anorexic even.

Some things there is no coming back from. Some things take such a toll that try as one might to rectify their past mistakes, it is impossible. I’ve known people who abused their bodies over the course of decades in a systematic fashion with alcohol and drugs, only to try and right the ship, better themselves, and get healthier, when their livers were already shot, their lungs were black with cancer, and their hearts had swelled to the size of a cantaloupe.

Sometimes it takes a physical, other times a blood test, but something has to awaken an individual to the reality of the sad shape they’re in, in order for them to see that no matter how much you try to put it off, eventually the bill comes due for everything in this life.

We’ve been buying things we don’t need with money we don’t have for years and years now. What ought to have stirred us to wakefulness and shown us the approaching disaster only served to embolden us to more spending. Even though you can only sleep in one bed and sit in one chair and eat at one table the magnitude and sheer size of our adobes have become so mammoth that many a soul could easily convert their homes into mid-size bed and breakfasts, and still have plenty of room for themselves.

Am I judging people with big homes? Far from it. If you earned it, it’s your right to spend it however you see fit. What I do have an issue with are people who know in their heart of hearts they could never afford the mansion, but still sign the papers and get themselves into debt far exceeding what they can hope to repay, sort of like our country at this point in time.

The end result is an inevitable one. Sooner or later both the individual with the too high mortgage, as well as the nation in question begin to default on their debt, and no optimistic outlook or more printing of money can circumvent this reality.

The only thing that can be done is to kick the can down the road a ways, to put off the inevitable, but with each passing day, with every delay, the pain of it all will be that much greater when it finally comes crashing to the ground.

So what’s the point of this post? Why talk about this? Because there are many today, even within the household of faith who trust in the arm of the flesh, who trust in the system, who trust in the things they can see, and do not exercise their faith, or build up their intimacy with God. Their perceived security and the amassing of more perceived security makes them lethargic when it comes to their spiritual growth, their myopic view keeping them from seeking the fullness of relationship with God while the birds are still chirping and the sun is still shining.

Do you know God, or do you know of God? Does He know you? Are you a son or daughter, or some illegitimate offspring whom God does not acknowledge as His own? These are questions we must answer far in advance of what is now a certain collapse, questions of far greater import than how long we can manage to delay the inevitable.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

The Simplest of Equations

How is it that we always seem to find topics of conversation that focus on anything other than Jesus within the church nowadays? How is it that we make time to have pointless, useless debates over issues that the Bible has already settled, but fail to find the time to concentrate on the risen Christ, and the message of the cross?

When real world examples do not exist, we start to spin hypothetical webs, asking the same redundant questions over and over again, just in a different context, as though making someone an usher and not a choir leader excuses a sin which they’ve chosen as their identity and refuse to repent of.

Sin is sin whether it’s committed by the pastor, the deacon, or the person sitting in the last pew.

Sin of which men do not repent separates said men from God, whether their chosen televangelist insists that they’ve been given a waiver, or their chosen denomination chooses to embrace it as wholesome.

God is not beholden to denominations. God is not beholden to televangelists. God is not beholden to anyone or anything, because everything other than God is creation, He is creator, and therefore He need not debase Himself in any way to either humor us or indulge us.

There is finality to what God established in His Word. There are absolutes over which men cannot gloss though they have tried, and continue to try with rabid ferocity.

I still find it laughable that we believe we can dictate terms to God, and if a handful of lost souls in a dying denomination decides something, then God must do as they decide or else.

I’ve said it before, and I will continue to repeat it until it either connects or you get weary of reading what I write and no longer visit this blog: men either love God more than their sin and part ways with their sin, or they love their sin more than they love God and as such find some huckster somewhere to offer them fire insurance and tell them they can be waved through the pearly gates without ever having been washed in the blood of the Lamb, without having gone and sinned no more, without having broken ties with the darkness and having embraced the light of truth and righteousness.

Men can say all sorts of things, and if there is a financial incentive in there somewhere they will be insistent upon the deception they try to force feed you, contending that those feelings of something not being quite right are due to the bigoted society we live in, and not due to the urging of the Holy Spirit to repent and be reconciled unto God.

How can you not feel obliged to bless the individual who insisted that you need not go through the trouble of repenting of your sins? How can you not feel obliged to bless the individual who insisted everyone goes to heaven regardless, even your long lost pets? How can you not feel obliged to bless the individual who essentially gave you license to live as the world and still cling to the illusion of being saved, sanctified, and heaven bound?

It’s like sending a muffin basket to the doctor who told you that you don’t have heart disease even though you do.

‘Thanks doc, I know the tests came out all wrong and it seemed like I only had a few months to live, but you reinterpreting them and telling me they’re not so bad after all really took a load off.’

Sin kills. It has a 100% mortality rate if not repented of. The reason so much of the New Testament focuses on the need to repent of one’s sins, to be renewed of mind and heart, is because the matter of sin is a serious one, one that we cannot gloss over or overlook because it has eternal implications.

Revelation 22:14-15, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”

When the dust settles and all is said and done, when the final word is written, and the last song is sung, there will be those without and those within. There will be those who will have the right to the tree of life, and those who will not. There will be those who will be allowed to enter through the gates into the city, and those who will be cast into the outer darkness. Anyone who tells you different is a liar, a deceiver, a fraud, and a swindler, who cares not for your eternal soul, and whose desire to pacify your conscience is thoroughly tethered to your checkbook.

Either your sin or God! Whoever this is for, you can’t have both, and it is within your purview to choose one or the other. Choose wisely!

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Death By Indifference

Why is it that we take so little interest as to whom it is that offers us spiritual succor? Why is it that we would rather spend more time contemplating what brand of clothing or shoes we want to wear than what the intentions of the smiling face before us truly are? Although we are quick to roam the supermarket looking for organic produce and cosmetics that don’t perform animal testing, as far as spiritual nourishment is concerned we are more like a trash compactor taking in anything offered us, and waiting mouth agape for the next batch of fresh baked lunacy to be shoveled therein.

What’s worse is that every new fad, every new wave, every new doctrine and teaching and theory, no matter how unscriptural and absent any Biblical foundation becomes gospel to us, and if anyone dare point out the inconsistencies, we are quick to lash out, smearing them, their families, their loved ones, their ancestry, and throwing in an Ichabod or two just to be safe.

Consequently, you never see these people come back to apologize or repent once the fad implodes, once their new messiah turns out to be anything but, and once the date that was set, or the theory that was put forth is annihilated by none other than time itself.

I’m still amused at seeing what I’ve deemed prophetic or revelatory sparring going on among believers, wherein one ‘prophet’ gives one word, then another ‘prophet’ gives a word negating the word the other ‘prophet’ gave, as though God is divided, double minded, or just likes to sow confusion among His children.

A true word from God will stand the test of time. A true word from God will not seek to elevate the man delivering it, but the Lord Himself, stirring people to repentance and intimacy with God rather than to digging hovels in the earth and learning to live without indoor plumbing.

It would seem the prophetic landscape is abuzz with new words, with dates being thrown about, and with events which will happen on those dates. I’m getting more and more correspondence from individuals asking me to either confirm or deny these dates, and I will say publicly what I’ve reiterated privately, that each man is accountable to God for the words he gives, and he is likewise accountable to confirm that said words did originate from God.

If there is any lingering doubt, keep silent.

If there is one thing I would love to see as pertains to the prophetic, is that we hold our ‘prophets’ accountable for the words they speak, the dates they set, and the events they foretell will occur during any given timeframe.

Between swallowing everything wholesale and being skeptical, I would rather the household of faith be skeptical during these days, because Jesus Himself warned of false prophets, false teachers, and false Christs, who would deceive many. We’re not talking about a handful of people here; we’re not talking about a small gathering of folk. We are talking about a large swath of what we deem to be the Church being deceived by these ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing.

What can one do when the sheep prefer the wolves over the shepherds? What can be done when the church honors deceivers and vilifies preachers of righteousness?

Some are still waiting for a great sweeping revival. They are waiting for the light to come on, for the church to have a collective eureka moment, but those who would wait for such a thing have chosen to forget that salvation is not collective, but rather an individual endeavor.

Indifference is killing us ever so slowly. From indifference as to whom we choose to listen to, to indifference as to whether or not the individual is Biblically sound. We have more important matters to tend to; we have more important things to worry about. That is until we find ourselves far from the light, surrounded by wolves, with no one to come to our aid.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Cold Dead Things

What makes us human? This is not so much a philosophical question as it is an introspective one. I ask this only because the actions of today’s society and the notion of humanity itself seem to be at odds, and the more we get a peek behind the curtain, the more we realize we are become a planet of cold dead things, excusing and justifying practices that would make animals blush if they could.

Can we still call ourselves human when we are nonchalantly discussing the sale of baby parts as though we were ordering meat from our local butcher? Can we still call ourselves human when what we claim to be a clump of cells is actually fingers, and toes, and arms, and hearts, and we still choose to murder them wholesale and profit from their death? Can we still call ourselves human when our ideal isn’t saving lives but rather extracting babies from their mother’s wombs in a more complete manner so as to resell their cadavers for more money?

When murder of the innocent becomes an issue of choice and the demand is ‘murder at any time, for any reason, without apology’, how much if any of our humanity is still left?

A rotting soul walking around in a skin suit does not a human make, no matter how much lipstick and eyeliner you slather on.

We like to use flowery words to cover up our criminality. We use words like reproductive rights, viable tissue, or specimen, but we all know what we’re really talking about here. We’re talking about a human baby, one with eyes and ears and a nose, one which given the chance would have been born and lived and thrived, one which given the chance would have smiled and laughed and giggled.

We are talking about murdering said child because it’s an inconvenience, then selling its remains as though it were a slab of meat. Yes, dignity indeed!

In classic Orwellian fashion, the individuals responsible for exposing the atrocities taking place in the murder mills across America have been ordered to keep silent by a court of law, because you can’t mess with big business without getting your hand slapped, even if the product being peddled happens to be dead baby parts.

It’s sort of like going to report on a rape, and being sanctioned for being a tattle tale. When did it become against the law to expose atrocity? When did it become criminal to defend the innocent and defenseless?

Throughout all of this unfolding, everyone was holding their collective breaths waiting for the church’s reaction on the matter. Some were even rubbing their hands in anticipation, concluding that the church is taking so long to say something because what it has to say is so powerful. Well, the people holding their breaths have since passed out due to lack of oxygen, and the church rolled over on its side, yawned once or twice, got a bit peeved for having its slumber interrupted and went right back to bed.

We are too busy buying private jets, acquiring mansions, racing Bentleys, and telling everyone who will listen that Jesus wants to be their sugar daddy to care about such trivial things as the murder of the unborn and the selling of their remains for profit. That’s just beneath us. Our mission is to win the world don’t you know, and for that we need a brand spanking new jet to puddle around in.

At this point is anyone still praying for God to withhold judgment? I know I’m not!

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Repercussions

There are no actions without consequence. There are no choices without repercussions. One of the fundamental laws of the universe states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Although attributed to Newton as his third law, the reality of this law existed far, far before Newton put it into words.

I do not live in a vacuum and neither do you.  Consequently, teachers don’t teach in a vacuum, preachers don’t preach in a vacuum, and as such there are repercussions to the teachings and the sermons men utter. Real lives are being shipwrecked, real faith is being shattered, and real hearts are being made weary by the onslaught of falsehood being passed as gospel nowadays.

The real heartbreak is that it takes some time for the repercussions of certain things to be made evident to the naked eye. One indulgent meal replete with cookies, cakes, and milk shakes will not make you obese, but keep eating it for a few months and you will see the pounds gradually tick upwards.

We are beginning to see the repercussions of our choices in many areas nowadays, from overly stimulated children whose youth was spent in front of the internet, to adults who no longer know what it is to have a meaningful, loving relationship because of all the pornography they’ve ingested, to Christians who honestly believe the only expectation God ever had of them was to raise a hand in church on any given Sunday even if they didn’t really mean it, or because they felt pressured by their parents to do it.

When seeds are sown the harvest does not come in overnight. It takes a season of germinating and growing before they take root, break through the soil, and grow into what they were intended to be.

The seeds of our Christless gospel, the seeds of our powerless gospel, the seeds of our fraudulent gospel, and the seeds of our heretical gospel have broken through the ground and now we are seeing the gnarled, misshapen dead shrubs it has produced.

Like most anything, false doctrine has a cumulative, compounded effect, to the extent that there are certain brash, arrogant individuals who will vociferously argue against the sovereignty of Christ, the infallibility of the Gospel, and God Himself all the while calling themselves Christians, due to all the falsehood they’ve absorbed and accepted into themselves over the years.

We are just now beginning to see the repercussions of the Me Gospel, the Social Gospel, the Prosperity Gospel and the Fire Insurance Gospel. Worse is on the way, and those who still dare to stand on the walls of the citadel and cry aloud are bone weary, and down to their last ebbing strength.

Pray for those who still preach truth. Pray for those who still walk in light. Pray for those who still insist upon righteousness, because they are growing fewer by the day, and the darkness is set against them and their loved ones.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.